CHURCH IN QATAR

The first Christian church to officially be pemitted to meet in the tiny Middle Eastern country of Qatar held its first service last week. The small Catholic chapel has no visible crosses but it still considered a positive step between Catholicism and Islam. And that may only be the beginning. The Vatican is in talks that may give it permission to build the first church in Saudi Arabia. There are some 800,000 Catholics in the country. Celebrating non-Muslim holidays and wearing crucifixes has been strictly forbidden.